Billionaire Ken Griffin had the political world buzzing when he donated $50 million to Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s ultimately unsuccessful bid for the Republican governor nomination.
But a second billionaire involved in the GOP race to challenge first-term Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has now exceeded Griffin’s largesse with his contributions in support of the candidate who came out on top in the primary, Darren Bailey.
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With a donation Friday, ultraconservative megadonor Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest, the founder of the Uline office supply and packaging firm, has given more than $52 million to back Bailey, primarily by being the chief funding source for a political action committee allied with the wealthy downstate farmer from Xenia.
The Play By The Rules PAC reported getting more than $13.9 million from Uihlein on Friday, State Board of Elections records show. With the donation, the PAC run by right-wing radio host Dan Proft of Naples, Florida, has received more than $42 million from Uihlein, including nearly $34 million since Bailey won the June 28 primary.
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Uihlein, one of the nation’s largest donors for conservatives and conservative causes, has also given more than $10 million directly to Bailey, all but $1 million of it before the primary.
Uihlein has long supported other PACs and candidates backed by Proft, including Proft’s own 2010 bid for the Republican primary for governor, in which he finished sixth.
The billionaire’s decision to primarily direct his money to the PAC indicates a comfort level with Proft and apparent unease with the management of Bailey’s campaign against Pritzker, a billionaire entrepreneur and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune.
Proft’s Play By The Rules is an independent expenditure PAC which, by law, cannot coordinate its activities with Bailey. The PAC’s main spending has been for advertising criticizing Pritzer and only occasionally backing Bailey, who has yet to run a general election ad.
Proft is also aligned with a management group that has sent political mailings, filled with misinformation and innuendo, disguised as newspapers to voters across Illinois.
The PAC has reported spending $27.4 million since it was launched in March, with nearly $20 million of the total spent since the primary, primarily on TV ads, state records show.
Since the 2020 general election, Uihlein has made more than $57.5 million in donations to GOP candidates and causes. Besides his contributions to the Proft PAC and Bailey, he has given more than $2.6 million to Illinois Senate Republican leader Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods, records show.
Uihlein also has given $1 million to a group opposing a proposed state constitutional amendment on the ballot that is backed by unions and would enshrine collective bargaining rights in the state’s governing document.
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Griffin, founder and CEO of the Citadel investment firm who had been the richest resident of Illinois, announced only days before the primary, where the slate of candidates he was backing fell far short of expectations, that he and his business operations were moving to Miami.
Griffin has emerged as a major GOP fundraiser nationally and is backing Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is exploring a potential 2024 White House bid.
rap30@aol.com
